History and Lore

Often called the “potato of the tropics,” taro is a member of the tropical and subtropical flowering plant family Araceae. There is a great deal of confusion and mislabeling when it comes to all kinds of tropical tubers, and taro is no exception. It is the common name for four different tropical root crops around the world, as explained in the chapter on malanga, also known as American taro (Xanthosoma sagittifolium). And like malanga, this taro (Colocasia esculenta), sometimes called true taro, can appear under various names in the marketplace because it is cultivated across such a broad swath of the globe.